2017 Award Categories

The Gulf-South Summit Award for Outstanding Practitioner Contributions to Service-Learning in Higher Education will be given to a practitioner (faculty member, staff member, or administrator with responsibility for administration and/or coordination of service-learning activities) who has demonstrated excellence in creating, providing and sustaining opportunities for engaging college/university students in service-learning.

Evaluation criteria are as follows:

• Advancement of a culture of engagement within his or her institution
• Promotion of a scholarship of engagement among his or her colleagues
• Demonstrated leadership in the field of civic engagement
• Advancement of the principles of effective practice
• Demonstration of program growth and sustainability over time

The award recipient will receive a plaque in recognition of his or her accomplishments in addition to a monetary award of $500.

The Gulf-South Summit Award for Outstanding Community Partner Contributions to Service-Learning will be given to an individual who has demonstrated excellence in creating and sustaining opportunities for engaging college/university students in service-learning. This individual should have collaborated with a service-learning program for more than one year in order to be nominated.

Evaluation criteria are as follows:

• Evidence of having an active voice in the planning and implementation of service-learning
• Evidence of benefits to students
• Demonstration of effort in sustaining the collaboration over time

The award recipient will receive a plaque in recognition of his or her accomplishments in addition to a monetary award of $500.

The Gulf-South Summit Award for Outstanding Faculty Contributions to Service-Learning Instruction will be given to a member of the teaching faculty who has demonstrated excellence incorporating service-learning pedagogy in the college/university classroom.

Evaluation criteria are as follows:

• Demonstration of engaged teaching methodologies
• Evidence of benefits to students
• Evidence of collaboration with community partners and/or service beneficiaries in course design
• Demonstration of sustained commitment by incorporating service-learning consistently for at least three academic terms

The award recipient will receive a plaque in recognition of his or her accomplishments in addition to a monetary award of $500.

The Gulf-South Summit Award for Outstanding Student Contributions to Service-Learning will be given to a full or part-time undergraduate student who has demonstrated extraordinary public or community service efforts while attending an institution of higher education.

Evaluation criteria are as follows:

• Evidence of the effects of his/her service-learning participation on the community
• Evidence of the effects of service-learning participation on his or her academic learning, civic commitment, community awareness and personal development
• Evidence of how service-learning efforts have furthered the mission of his/her institution
• Demonstrated innovative and sustained work to address an issue in the community

The award recipient will receive a plaque in recognition of his or her accomplishments in addition to a monetary award of $500.

The Gulf-South Summit Award for Outstanding Service-Learning Collaboration will be given to a team of practitioners, faculty and community partners who have demonstrated success in achieving a mutually beneficial collaboration that has successfully addressed a genuine community need.

• Evidence of a formalized relationship between community organizations and a college/university. This may include a copy of a Memorandum of Understanding or a Letter of Partnership outlining the commitments of each stakeholder.
• Evidence of beneficial effects of the collaboration on local concerns
• Indication of how the collaboration advanced objectives of engaged scholarship in the college or university
• Evidence that the collaboration has been sustained for at least three years

The award recipients will each receive a plaque in recognition of their accomplishments, and the community partner organization will receive a $500 monetary contribution.